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Thanks for visiting Historic Happenings! If you are not on the email list, and would like to be notified via email when a new posting of this newsletter is made, please email Terry Ommen at histerry@comcast.net. I will add you to the list. I will never share your email address with anyone without your permission.

We have a new winner! Al Williams who just happened to be the co-editor of the Oak Yearbook in 1954 was the first to get the mystery spot correct. The mystery spot was the building that housed the Automobile Club of Southern California at 520 W. Mineral King. It was there for a number of years and in 2004 to was moved to make way for the multi-story Kaweah Delta hospital building that occupies the space now. The old Auto Club building now sets on the northeast corner of Oak and Stevenson streets (732 W. Oak). This mystery spot proved to be a very difficult one, so Al, good job!

Now for the new one. Here are the clues

1. This building served as a residence for Dr. James Combs and his wife.

2. It was built in about 1902.

3. It is a beautiful downtown office building now.

4. It has the building owner’s name in letters over the front entrance.

Where is this building? Good luck.

Visalia’s Fascinating and Mysterious Mill Creek

Not many towns can boast a creek flowing through the middle of it, but Visalia can. Mill Creek is one of the many water channels that are part of our area, creating a delta (Kaweah Delta.) Historically because of these channels we were right in the heart of what was known as Four Creeks Country. Mill Creek has quite a history. It has been the source of terrible grief and the cause for great pride. I am doing an article about the local waterway and I’d like to hear your stories and experiences with it. I especially want to hear from anyone who took inner tube rides through the subterranean channel as it flows underneath downtown buildings, parking lots and streets. Please email me your Mill Creek stories.

Lynne Brumit Shares Local History

Lynne Brumit has been an HH follower for a long time and she has also been a keeper of relics of local history for even longer. Recently, she shared many of her treasurers including her books, newspapers and memories. Even though she does not live in Tulare County now, she returns occasionally to visit friends. Of special interest to me was this 1983 Visalia calendar. As you can see, these 30-year old calendar features the City Council at the time. In that year Visalia had a population of slightly less than 55,000. Now we are over 125,000. Thanks Lynne for sharing your goodies.

Pioneers in Paradise – New Book by Sophie Britten

A new book has just been released written by Three Rivers native Sophie Britten. Pioneers in Paradise: A Historical and Biographical Record of Early Days in Three Rivers, California 1850s to 1950s is the only publication I know of that focuses on Three Rivers history. The book has been a long time overdue and Sophie was clearly the one to do it. Obviously Three Rivers is the focus, but Visalia also plays a role in the book. You can order Pioneers in Paradise by going to http://www.brittenbooks.net/  Thanks Sophie for such a nice historical gift to Tulare County and especially Three Rivers.

John Shannon Gunned Down

Back in December of 2012 Ron Greenlee, a supervisor at the Visalia Cemetery, let his curiosity get the best of him. He had just read Wild Tulare County—Outlaws, Rogues and Rebels and when he got to the chapter about William G. Morris killing John Shannon over  a political dispute, he had to see if Shannon was buried at the Visalia Cemetery. He did the research and found out that Shannon was buried there and he was able to find the unmarked burial spot. He shared his discovery with his co-workers at the cemetery and they decided that Shannon needed a headstone. They got a headstone, contacted Ron Westbrook at Visalia Granite and Marble Works next door and he generously donated the labor to create the headstone. In the near future it will be placed on Shannon’s grave. Thanks Ron Greenlee and all the cemetery staff for the good research and putting in the effort. Thanks also Ron Westbrook and your crew at Visalia Granite for making the stone. By the way, Shannon had been a newspaperman in Auburn, California before coming to Visalia in 1859 and the Auburn Journal newspaper recently did a story on Ron Greenlee’s discovery, too.   See it at http://www.auburnjournal.com/article/media-life-gunned-down-editor-has-poetic-auburn-link   I’m sure many of you read the nice local story in the Visalia Times Delta, February 26, 2013 written by Luis Hernandez.

***Thanks to all of you who provided information with respect to the hot dog stand that was in question in the last HH. Appreciate your effort on this.

 ***Barbara Hinds Joseph has asked about a distant relative named James S. Clack. He was married to Julia Hinds Clack. She (and me too) would love to have a photograph of him. He was an attorney and judge in Visalia. Can anyone help with a photograph or information about him?

“Doctors state that Visalia is in a good sanitary condition, and that there is very little sickness prevailing in the city, except in the southern portion, where a stinking slough breeds malaria.” Visalia Weekly Delta, October 22, 1891.

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Thanks for visiting Historic Happenings! If you are not on the email list, and would like to be notified via email when a new posting of this newsletter is made, please email Terry Ommen at histerry@comcast.net. I will add you to the list. I will never share your email address with anyone without your permission.

Congratulations go to Art Browning who was the first to identify part of the large neon sign at Surplus City as the last Mystery Spot. So many of you identified it correctly, but Art was the first.

This next Mystery Spot is going to be harder, so get ready. Here are the clues:

1.      This Visalia building once housed one of the biggest clubs in California.

2.      This building once sat on Mineral King Ave, before it was moved.

3.      The decorative tile trim pattern on this building is unique in Visalia.

4.      The club that was once in this building, still has a presence in Visalia.

Where is this building located now? Good luck.

Photograph of Kids Drive-in Hangout is Located

In the last HH, the old McDonald’s Drive-In was mentioned as a hangout for young people “dragging” Main Street. I made a request for a photograph of the drive-in and Marian Shippey Cote and Art Browning both found this one in the 1954 Oak yearbook. This old drive-in sure feels like “American Graffiti.” By the way, the McDonald’s drive was on the southeast corner of Floral and Center (where Visalia Community Bank now stands.) Thanks Marion and Art for finding this photo.

Grain Sack Sewer’s Tools

Well, Guy Shelly has shared with us again. His family was good friends with Bert Gifford, a jack-of-all-trades. He was an automobile mechanic and is shown here working on the Shelly family car in about 1947. Bert also worked on threshing crews harvesting grain in Tulare County. His job on the crew was bagging the grain and sewing up the bags. To do that, he needed tools and the primary tool was this grain sack sewing kit. As a “sack sewer”, Bert made his needle case out of leather and carried it in his pocket. Thanks Guy for so generously sharing, and Leonard Cote for completing the needle set. Sack sewers are not in demand much anymore, but at one time they were critical in harvesting.

Fox Theatre Marquee—Viva Las Vegas

I talked with Paul Fry, manager of the Fox Theatre recently and he tells us that the beautiful old movie house has a fundraising campaign underway to raise money for several theater projects. One project that is in the works is a marquee upgrade. According to Paul, replacing this old marquee would do two things. First of all, the existing marquee is “worn out.” Secondly, replacing it with a “digital” marquee would encourage advertisers to display ads on the marquee which would bring in additional revenue. The current marquee on the theater is not the original one. Here is a rendering of what a digital marquee might look like. I don’t believe details of the replacement are worked out yet, so this is just a concept. Would it have animated images moving on the marquee? Would it be in a form that would blend in with the lines and architectural style of the theater? Would a replacement marquee with advertisers commercials on it, meet the requirements of the Visalia sign ordinance. Many of these and other questions are yet to be answered. I trust the public will be kept informed as the marquee element moves forward. The Fox Theatre is a city treasure and I hope whatever decisions are made, they will take into account the overall appearance of this 1930 building.  Whatever is decided, I hope the elegant and historic character of the theater will not be compromised. Thanks Paul, for keeping us informed.

Hometown Boys and Girls in the Armed Forces

During World War II Guy Shelley’s mother made scrapbooks using newspaper clippings of local military personnel who were serving in the armed forces. She clipped many articles out of the Visalia Times Delta mainly from a section called “Hometown Boys in the Service” and later from the new column called “Our Men and Women in Service.” Both columns gave the folks back on the home front, news about locals serving their country. It sure was a nice way for the community to keep track of its young people.

Photography Project Leads to More Photographs

Recently Matt Kneeland shared that he was working on a photography project with his mom. While doing so, Kim Cribbs (family name Morgan) gave him a few additional photographs. Here is one she provided showing Visalia’s Main Street during one of Visalia’s many floods. I would guess this picture is connected to the 1945 flood.  Floods  sure brought out the cameras. Matt also found  a card advertising “Dinah’s Shack.” Anyone ever hear of Dinah’s Shack? Thanks, Matt.

Tucked in a Cigar Box

Darl Ann Rector was going through her great-grandfather’s trunk and cigar box recently and found some interesting things. One of them was this 1911 receipt from the Goldstein and Iseman’s Store in Visalia. She also shared some very interesting genealogical material on the local Krepps family. Thanks as always for sharing Darl.

***Gilbert Gia, an amazing historian living in Bakersfield, recently found an 1875 article in the Overland Monthly Outwest Magazine. In the article the writer described entering Visalia from the Goshen area. He wrote, “We soon entered one of the prettiest districts of rolling lawn land to be seen anywhere. Beautifully wooded, with level reaches of short thick grasses….”  As always Gil, thanks for keeping your friends to the north informed.

***John T. Austin, has just finished his book called Floods and Droughts of the Tulare Lake Basin. I know John and the quality of his work and the book is destined to be the best single source for anything water in our area. The book can be purchased from the Sequoia Natural History Association website or you can get a free download at  http://tularebasinwatershed.org/sites/default/files/sites/all/default/files/pdf/Floods-Droughts-Tulare-Lake-Basin_JAustin_20130109.pdf

***Sadly, California has lost a wonderful promoter of history. Huell Howser passed away last month. He was a part of California’s Gold and the history lovers of the Golden State will feel the loss.

***Art Brumley believes he has lost a hot dog stand! He thinks he remembers it next door to the Mooney Blvd. carwash just north of Walnut. Anyone remember a hotdog stand there, and a name?

*** Cindy Hill wants to know how the name “Modoc” originated in Visalia. We are a long way from the Native American tribe of that name in northern California. Anyone know?

***Several of you shared that elementary/middle schools are publishing yearbooks just like high schools. Thanks, I didn’t know that.

***Hope some of you found loved ones in the class of 1941 photo in HH last month. Tony Cornett found his mom and Godmother.

“The agent of the Levitt-Huggins Shows [carnival] at the Hotel Johnson personally will give $100 in cash to any white man living in Visalia or surroundings, $100 to any white lady, or $200 to any colored man, and $250 to any colored woman who will sleep in the graveyard overnight on a cot chained and hand-cuffed, with no protection but a knife and a gun…” Visalia Daily Times, January 7, 1921.

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Thanks for visiting Historic Happenings! If you are not on the email list, and would like to be notified via email when a new posting of this newsletter is made, please email Terry Ommen at histerry@comcast.net. I will add you to the list. I will never share your email address with anyone without your permission.

Wow, did Russ Dahler get the last mystery spot quickly. He was the first and I’m sure it is related to his work on the research committee for the Fox Theatre book some years ago. As many of you know, the mystery spot was the small window on the east wall of the Fox. Congratulations Russ.

Okay, the clues for the next mystery spot are…

1.  This building houses a retail store.

2.  The business has been at this location since 1966.

3.  Planning an outdoor adventure? You’ll definitely want to visit this business.

4.  The building has one of the biggest neon signs in Visalia.

What building is it? Good luck!

McDonald’s Drive-In—A Hot Spot in Visalia

In a recent posting of HH, we talked about the McDonald’s Café on Main Street across the street from the Fox Theatre. Recently, Phil Kneeland, a 1957 Redwood graduate, mentioned that the McDonald’s Drive-In on the southeast corner of Floral and Center was also a hotspot. He shared that the drive-in was the turnaround spot for “dragging” Main. He said, “We drove through that parking lot to wave at friends that were parked there either having a burger and cherry soda or because that was an easy  way of saving money. It was a good place to hangout if you were out of gas money. You could see all of your buddies that were on the ‘drag.’ We spent many a night ‘dragging Main’ with a carload of buddies or your girlfriend at your side. We’d flip a ‘u-ie’ at the east end of Main at the Santa Fe tracks or go up No. Court and around the ‘Oval’ and back again. Dragging ‘in town’ meant a slow cruise down Main (when Main was a two-way street) with the occasional high speed run from one stop light to another.”

These were fun memories for Phil, and I’m sure others as well. Phil, I cannot find any photographs of the drive-in. Can anyone help? I seem to recall someone talking to me about the possibility of a drive-in photo in an old yearbook. Let me know if anyone can help.

Tulare County Treasures—There Are Some Amazing Places In Our Own Backyard

For the past year or so, a group of Tulare County volunteers have been working on what they call the Tulare County Treasures Project (TCTP). The group formed thanks to Laurie Schwaller who had this great idea. The mission of the Tulare County Treasures Project is to Celebrate, Educate and Inspire by telling the stories of the diverse places that have been conserved in our county and of the visionary people who have worked to protect and steward them. The group has big plans and the website is really the first major step in the further development of the TCTP. Here is the tri-fold brochure with more information. We are looking for people who want to get involved. There are various ways to do that, so let us know of your interest. You won’t be disappointed. It’s fun and really highlights Tulare County as an amazing place. By the way, Visalia has many “treasures” and they will be included also. Please visit the website at www.tularecountytreasures.org.

Visalia Unified High School Class of 1941 – Great Reunion Photo From 1957

Donna Capron Wilson, granddaughter of former Visalia Police Chief Jim Fluty wanted to share another one of her photos. This one is really a panorama photograph from the 1957 reunion of the Visalia Unified High School Class of 1941. There are so many people in this photo, you’re sure to recognize someone. In fact, you might even be in it yourself or maybe a family member. Let me know if you recognize anyone and share something about them. Thanks, Donna for sharing this great photo.

History Can Be Found in the Most Unlikely Places

We all know that history can be found in pictures, right? But here is a new twist. Jon Greeson found something interesting recently as he was cleaning out his grandmother’s garage. He spotted an old picture frame with a beaten up image of a school boy mounted inside. As he dismantled the frame, several layers of backing came out, a couple of which were pieces of Visalia memorabilia. One of these pieces was a partial 1910 calendar for L. A. Dollner. Lewis Dollner was in the jewelry business for many years in Visalia and at one time had his store at 125 E. Main. Thanks Jon for your garage archeology and sharing your find.

***In the last HH I included a section dealing with former Police Chief Jim Fluty and in that section his granddaughter provided a photograph of an emergency unit (panel truck) for the sheriff’s department. The truck was pictured in front of the Depot Restaurant and I now know the identification of the man standing by the sheriff’s unit. He is Deputy George E. Tockstein. Anyone know the name? He would have been a TC deputy sheriff in the 1950s.

***Recently we received this good news from Paul Fry, manager of the Fox Theatre, “Wanted to inform you of some upcoming good news. Today I was checking the website of the State of California Office of Historic Places and the Visalia Fox Theatre is on their scheduled for February 8, 2013 to be nominated to the National Register of Historic places. The actual agenda will not be published until late January 2013.” Good news for one of Visalia’s “treasures.”

***Dustin Smith has a question. He writes, “I heard a story a while back about the remains of a little girl in an old wood coffin that was accidentally found some years back by an excavator on a construction project. It was found out by where Riggin Road is in Visalia. The story I heard was that she was sick and either lived or was briefly staying with a family that lived out there and due to flood waters they could not cross the river to get her to a doctor (by river, I assume they meant St. Johns). She ended up passing from her illness and they buried her out there. I suspect this would have taken place in the late 1800s or so. Do you know if there is any truth at all to this story? If so, do you know any details? Every time I am out around in the country on that side of town I wonder about that story being true, and would be very interested to know any details about it.” Sound familiar to anyone?

***In the last HH a mention was made about old school yearbooks being a good source of photographs. Sharon Doughty recalled, “At Conyer School about 1962 there were two classrooms for 6^th grade. My teacher was Mrs. Reed (Reid) and my sister’s teacher was Mr. Rollins. Mr. Rollins’ hobby was photography and he created a yearbook. As I recall each page was mimeograph printed with information, and each book had photos that he produced and pasted into a book.” Does anyone have an old copy one of these Conyer School yearbooks? It sure would be nice to share some of those photos with our readers. Were pre-high school yearbooks common?

***History and art make a great combination and Arts Visalia now has an art exhibit called “Visalia Icons Now and Then.” Their gallery is located in the 1910 Visalia Cooperative Creamery building at 214 E. Oak. Some nice Visalia scenes here. For more information about this organization and this special exhibit go to www.artsvisalia.org. The exhibit runs through February 1, 2013.

***Dana Lubich announced that he has uploaded two videos he produced. One is the “Santa Fe Bridge Scrapbook” and the other is “From Mearles to The Habit—A Drive-In’s Odyssey.” He documented both the Santa Fe bridge construction and the transformation of Mearle’s to The Habit. They are now on  KVPT Channel 18’s website. They have a new section called “Valley PBS by You.” He invites everyone to look at this new feature and view his two projects online. To see them go to: http://valleypbs.org/byyou/index_exploration.php.

It is a fact that we have a milk wagon now running through the streets of Visalia. Mr. E. Smith will deliver milk to the citizens of the town every morning and evening. This astonishing enterprise in a “cow county” should be encouraged. Visalia Weekly Delta, February 18, 1860.

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Thanks for visiting Historic Happenings! If you are not on the list, and would like to be notified via email when a new posting of this newsletter is made, please email Terry Ommen at histerry@comcast.net. I will add you to the list. I will never share your email address with anyone without your permission.

Congratulations go out to Jan Morrison for getting the last Mystery Spot correctly identified. She was the first. Many of you got it right, and of course it was the old Wilson Cyclery building at 115 No West Street. Nice work Jan.

Okay, are you ready for the next one? Identify this building. Here are your clues:

         1)  This window is the only one on the entire wall.

           2)  The building has a well-known name affixed to it.

      3)  Ground was broken for this building the same year the Great Depression began.

      4)  Many big name entertainers were seen here.

Good luck!

Visalia Police Chief Jim Fluty

Donna Capron Wilson, granddaughter of former Visalia Police Chief James M. Fluty, recently visited and shared her family photos and history. Born in Missouri, Jim Fluty came to California in 1915, moved to Tulare County in 1920 and started with VPD in 1931. A master with firearms, he won many shooting matches and exhibitions. In 1939 he was named Visalia’s Chief of Police and served in that position until 1945 when he resigned to work with his brother in a family gun shop. In 1951, Tulare County Sheriff Sandy Robinson hired him and he served until 1961 leaving the sheriff’s office as a captain of the Criminal Division. TCSO Emergency Unit is shown with an unidentified man standing nearby in front of the SP Depot now SP Depot Restaurant. Jim Fluty died in 1963. These photographs are part of Donna’s collection and more will be shared in future postings of HH. Thanks so much Donna for your visit and for preserving our history.

Sweet Block – How Sweet It Was!

Chriss Courtney Laursen recently showed me this nice old panorama photograph and wanted me to share it with all of you. It is an amazing photograph, very large and pretty much covers the entire Sweet Store block (south side of Main between Church and Court streets.) To copy it, I had to photograph it in segments. It shows employees of S. Sweet company lined up on Main St with a banner that says, “S. Sweet Co. Annual Picnic Mooney Grove.” No date on it, but it appears to have been taken about 1923. No one was identified on the photo either. Glad you were willing to share Chriss.

Pedro Fages – Spanish Connection to the San Joaquin Valley

Judi Cowper recently returned from a visit to Spain. While there she visited the birth place of Pedro Fages, a Spanish soldier and early California leader. He is credited with being the first identifiable white man to see what is now called the San Joaquin Valley. In 1772 while looking over the valley, probably from Grapevine Canyon in the Ridge Route area, he noted the beautiful valley view. Fages was born in Guissona, Catalonia and Judi was kind enough to share her photographs of his birthplace. Thanks for thinking of us, Judi.

Virginia Flammang – She Shared History With Us

I had the pleasure of knowing and visiting with Virginia Flammang some time back. She was a very classy lady and a wonderful Visalia historian. She was born in 1921 and died in Visalia on October 25, 2012. She grew up in Visalia and not only did she live our history, she took notes. At her funeral some of her Visalia memories were read as part of the memorial service. Rob, Virginia’s son and Karen, Rob’s wife, shared copies of her written memories with me. Virginia’s recollections are so vivid and here are a couple of them:

First: “At Morgan’s Meat Market [probably at 121 W. Main], the butcher always gave me a frankfurter. That was where I saw my very first ceiling fan; I wished I could hang on it and spin around. Also, here was where I attempted to bite some frost off a pipe next to the cold counter; after much pain and yelling and crying, Dr. McSwain came down and melted my tongue loose.”

Here’s another: “In the 200 block of [south] Bridge St. just a block off Main, was a wonderful and special place called the Visalia Plunge. The pool was quite large with a small cement island off to one side, with a live oak tree in the center. Standing on the island, you could grab a large ring and swing across the pool on a wire from the tree to the other side, or drop off in the water midway. Of course the slide was great fun, as were the diving boards which I was never brave enough to try. On two sides there were sand areas to sun bathe and pretend to be at the beach and plenty of showers and dressing rooms, also a place to buy candy and cold drinks. The Red Cross gave swim lessons so I learned to swim very early. Mother could just leave us there for hours knowing we were safe and having fun.”

Thanks Rob and Karen for allowing us to share her memories. By the way, Virginia lived in the house shown here at 1845 So. Court Street for a very short time. It was built by Frank and Josephine Flammang in about 1924 and still stands.

Fire Chief Roy Vogt Helped Recover Valuables

On Friday evening, May 3, 1968, the 5-story Hotel Johnson, built in 1917, caught fire and was severely damaged to the point it eventually had to be demolished. Lloyd Trout shared this personal story about that fire: “My mother (Estelle Trout) lived in the hotel and was the night clerk on duty when the fire started. She called the fire department then made a quick exit as smoke bellowed down the stairway. We asked mother what valuables she might have lost and she said, ‘Oh, I didn’t really have much except my cash savings in a dresser drawer!’ The following day after the flames were extinguished my wife Vanabeth and I were talking to Fire Chief Roy Vogt and asked if any of mother’s personal effects on an upper floor might be salvageable. ‘Well, let’s go up there and see,’ Roy said. So the three of us climbed into the department’s “cherry picker” and were lifted up to her apartment’s corner south window. With Chief Roy leading the way we gingerly made our way inside to a ledge while looking all the way down to the ground floor. With smoke still drifting up, it was quite a site! Not to mentioned a little scary. We saw the dresser perched on what was left of the floor. Inching along and hanging on to Roy for dear life, we made it to the dresser. Opening drawers we found her cash carefully wrapped in a handkerchief. Thanks Roy?” Thank you Lloyd for sharing this interesting story.

***The new 2013 Visalia Community Bank calendar is available to the public and it contains another collection of nice historical photographs. Stop in and ask for one, it is free! What a great community gift from Visalia Community Bank to all of us.

***Gary Holder mentioned that a good source of local photographs is school yearbooks. Business sponsors of the yearbooks oftentimes included photographs of their location as part of their yearbook ad. Good tip Gary!

***On Monday evening, December 10, 2012 from 7:00-8:30, I will be talking about the book Wild Tulare County, Outlaws, Rogues and Rebels. It is part of the Visalia Times Delta and the 210 Café’s 210 Connect series. Attendance is free and books will be for sale with $5.00 from the sale of each book going to the 210. Photographs will be part of the presentation. Hope to see you there.

A young gentleman of our town was politely invited by a number of the citizens to absent himself from the village, with the request that he would not return. For fear that he would not take their kindly advice, he was accompanied some distance and left with the injunction that his face was not to be seen again in town. The community is well rid of this kind, and he will do well to obey the good advice so kindly given. Visalia Weekly Delta, November 26, 1859